Thursday, March 26, 2009

Iran wins hanging contest

Iran had the highest rate of execution in 2008. Congratulations, Mahmoud and Ayatollahs. KSA was a close 2nd - maybe 2009? Iraq was 5th, behind Libya. The number of worldwide executions doubled last year from 2007. Thanks Molly and As'ad for the links.

AT LEAST 2,390 people were executed in 25 countries last year, according to a report published on Tuesday March 24th by Amnesty International, a human-rights group. China carried out at least 1,718 executions, 72% of the global total—the actual number (as in many other countries) is believed to be much higher. But if the populations of the 15 countries that carry out the most executions are taken into account, Iran and Saudi Arabia emerge as more zealous employers of capital punishment than China.

Baghdad in 2000: "A woman known as Um Haydar was beheaded reportedly without charge or trial at the end of December 2000. She was 25 years' old and married with three children. Her husband was sought by the security authorities reportedly because of his involvement in Islamist armed activities against the state. He managed to flee the country. Men belonging to Feda'iyye Saddam came to the house in al-Karrada district and found his wife, children and his mother. Um Haydar was taken to the street and two men held her by the arms and a third pulled her head from behind and beheaded her in front of the residents. The beheading was also witnessed by members of the Ba'ath Party in the area. The security men took the body and the head in a plastic bag, and took away the children and the mother-in-law. The body of Um Haydar was later buried in al-Najaf. The fate of the children and the mother-in-law remains unknown."